1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a railroad crossing barrier estimating apparatus for estimating the presence of a railroad crossing barrier as well as to a vehicle that incorporates therein such a railroad crossing barrier estimating apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 11-044533 (hereinafter referred to as “JP11-044533A”) discloses an apparatus for measuring the distance from a host vehicle to an object, i.e., a preceding vehicle that is traveling in the same direction as the host vehicle, using a laser radar 2 (see step 101 in FIG. 4, paragraph [0020]). When the disclosed apparatus appropriately measures the distance to the preceding vehicle (step 103: YES, paragraph [0020]), the apparatus calculates an intervehicular distance to the preceding vehicle from the distance measured by the laser radar 2 as well as the angle at which the laser radar 2 is mounted on the host vehicle (step 107, paragraph [0023]). The apparatus thereby controls the vehicle speed in order to make the intervehicular distance equal to or greater than a predetermined value (step 114, paragraph [0027]).